Lalu Ignorant of Dangers on Railway Tracks: JD-U Leader

Patna: July 4, 2008

Janata Dal (U) state president Lallan Singh, at a press conference in Patna on Friday, criticized the Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav for his lack of concern for the safety and security of the Indian Railways saying Yadav continues to boast about the profits in the Indian Railways but refuses to acknowledge the danger he is causing by allowing above-capacity hauling on the freight trains.

"The Railway Minister is completely ignorant about the safety of the passengers and is unashamedly non-apologetic about it. He proudly sings his own praises about how he turned a losing enterprise into a money-making machine but fails to talk about how too much load on the Indian railway tracks damage the very lifeline of the nation," Singh said.

The JD-U leader while crediting Nitish Kumar, the former Railway Minister under the NDA government, for creating a Rs. 17,000 crore railway emergency fund to meet with any disaster, blasted Yadav of failing to see long term effect of the poor maintenance of the track that could lead to catastrophe of unprecedented proportion.

"It is due to the pragmatic vision of Nitish Kumar who spent crores on strengthening the railway tracks that Lalu Prasad Yadav is reaping benefit of," he said.